Authors Interviewing Characters: Carol Van Den Hende
If you like heart-wrenching romances and magnanimous heroes, then you’ll love this emotionally-charged story. For fans of Me Before You and Fault in Our Stars, Goodbye, Orchid (a winner of Pinnacle Book Award for multicultural fiction) asks…
“What choice does a wounded hero have when loving his woman means breaking his own heart?”
Thirty-two year-old Phoenix Walker is an entrepreneur who has built an agency with a heart almost as big as his own. To add to his good fortune, he’s falling for Orchid Paige, the beautiful half-Asian marketer who’s collaborated with him on a winning military campaign. They’ve grown close after months working and traveling together. She’s even divulged the trauma in her past that makes her panic over images of injured vets. He’s trying not to cross their professional boundary. The searing attraction between them builds…….Until an accident changes him forever.
Now, he’s faced with the hardest decision of his life. Does he burden the woman whose traumatic childhood makes him feel protective of her? Or does true love mean leaving her without explaining why? This multicultural story keeps you moved and emotionally invested until the very last page.
Author Carol Van Den Hende interviews her character PHOENIX.
About GOODBYE, ORCHID
One July morning in Manhattan, handsome athlete and entrepreneur Phoenix Walker accompanies his love, half-Asian beauty Orchid, to the airport.
Neither believes today is goodbye.
But after she leaves, disaster strikes. Phoenix wakes in the hospital, broken, forever changed. He longs for Orchid but remembers the tragedy in her past that makes her panic over images of trauma.
So, even while he’s battling immense physical and emotional pain, his kind heart urges him to protect Orchid from more trauma. He’s faced with the hardest decision of his life. Does he burden the woman whose traumatic childhood makes him feel protective of her? Or does true love mean leaving her without explaining why?
***
I sit down to chat with Phoenix before the start of this “unputdownable,” “heart-breaking and heartwarming” “modern-day Affair to Remember” that “tugs not just on your heart but on your soul.”
July 29th
The loop of my flowy blouse catches on the wrought iron handle as I push into the flagship Starbucks roastery. Late when we only have a few minutes together. Phoenix is already inside, his chiseled features and blue eyes angled towards his phone. One long leg is anchored to the glistening floor, the other onto a bar stool ledge. Sunlight brightens his tousled hair and impressionistic sweep of stubble, as if he’s about to be crowned an angel. Before I can fluff my humidity-ruined ‘do or cross the vestibule, Phoenix looks up, sensing me approaching. His cobalt eyes crinkle with happiness. He stands, his six feet somehow filling the place, not just this corner of the café, but the whole cavernous space. He abandons his phone and lopes over in three bounds.
“Hey, long time no see.” He takes my proffered hand and we hug hello.
“Sorry I’m late, train troubles.”
“You’re apologizing? Listen, I’m the one who got you up at the crack of dawn.”
“True. You must be somethin’ to get me here at 8 on a Sunday.”
“Ha. Let me get you a coffee. You still take it black, right?’
“Yep, and yours…let me guess. Double espresso?”
“Best memory this side of the Highline.” Phoenix laughs, then catches the eye of the petite barista behind the counter. She flashes a thumbs up while Phoenix leads me to our table. We settle into seats just as the barista arrives with the exact orders we’d discussed. Phoenix, the miracle maker, thanks her with a smile. She sashays away with a lighter step that doesn’t have to do with her relinquished beverages.
“So how’ve you been? How are your twins?” he asks.
“You’re sweet to ask. They’re good. I hope they stay as close as you and Caleb.”
“They will. I mean look at all the stuff Caleb and I were able to get past”
“You mean the stolen girlfriends?”
“Ha. Yeah, there’s that. Though that was more the symptom than the cause. Looking back, I think it would’ve helped if we’d gone to different schools. Less comparing. I keep telling him that his tattoo parlors are impressive. Especially since Dad isn’t here to say that.”
“I wanted to say…you know, I’m really sorry about your dad.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that. Can’t believe it’s a year today.”
“How’s your mom doing?”
“She’s okay, she’s strong, like all of us Walkers I guess. I’m seeing her for lunch, after I bring Orchid to the airport.”
One corner of his mouth tugs up. He sips his espresso as if lost somewhere else.
“Wait, what’s up with Orchid?”
“She’s going to Asia to set the beauty industry on fire. She’s been working towards this assignment for months.”
“You helped her, right? With the pro bono work for the military non-profit?”
“I’m not taking credit for her success. That military ad campaign was sheer brilliance. Sure, I gave her guidance. But, she worked her butt off. The killer is that with everything she has been through, she feels the pain of those injured veterans as if it were her own. She cared so much. she would’ve raised a billion bucks for them if she could.”
He ducks his chin, as if embarrassed over his impassioned speech.
“Speaking of Orchid, I’m going to have to run soon. Did you get everything you needed?” he asks.
“Yeah, I didn’t need anything in particular. Just, I had this funny feeling. A premonition? I wanted to make sure you were fine. Be careful, okay?”
He flashes his perfectly white teeth. “Seriously, I’ve never been more fine. What could happen? I’m heading to JFK which I’ve been to a zillion times. I’m going to work out, then I’m meeting my mom for lunch. If anything, you watch yourself, with those train delays and all.”
We stand for a goodbye hug. He tosses a twenty onto the table and strides beside me to the door.
“You’re going to make her day with that tip.”
“I hope so,” he says. “It’s almost all the cash I have.”
“You need some? After all, you didn’t have to treat for the coffee,” I say, digging for my wallet.
“Oh c’mon. It’s my pleasure. Save that for your boys. And thanks for your concern. You take good care of yourself too, ok?”
We turn our separate ways. I watch his easy stride until it rounds the corner.
His bear hug and mirth quell my unease.
For now.
Carol Van Den Hende is an author and Lone Star Writing Contest finalist who pens stories of resilience and hope. She’s also a speaker, strategist, and serves on nonprofit boards. Her novel Goodbye, Orchid is a 2020 American Book Fest Urban Fiction Winner and a Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner for Multicultural fiction. It is available now at Amazon and https://carolvandenhende.com/media-kit/
Category: Interviews, On Writing
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